UN Chief: Politicians Ignoring the ‘Losers of Globalization’

Axel Bugge of Reuters reports that Antonio Guterres, the new United Nations Secretary General, “warned on Tuesday that rich countries were ignoring the ‘losers of globalization’ by turning to nationalist agendas, as in the U.S. election and Brexit referendum.” He also “linked the growing resistance to accepting refugees to wider concerns about globalization.”

There was a consensus in the mid-1990s that globalization would benefit all, he said.

“But a lot of people were left behind … In the developed world, (there are) those who have been losers in globalization,” he said. “The recent analysis of the rust belt in the United States, I think, is a clear demonstration of that, when we speak about the elections.”

Donald Trump won this month’s election in the United States in part thanks to support from voters who have seen their jobs lost to countries with cheaper labor.

Guterres said many voters had become angry with globalization and felt “that political establishments and international organizations are not paying attention”.